Living local in Eugene, OR

Crustless quiche with winter squash, leeks, and prosciutto

Crustless quiche is one of my favorite go to breakfast dishes for company – it looks beautiful, tastes delicious, and it’s all done at once. What’s not to love? I developed this crustless quiche recipe a few years ago by experimenting with ingredients that go well together. Quiche is really forgiving that way, which makes it really adaptable to eating seasonally and locally. Our local or regional ingredients include eggs from Laughingstock Farms, delicata squash from our CSA, and cream from Organic Valley.

Besides fresh, free range eggs, and seasonal produce, the key to a crustless quiche or savory tart is Herbes de Provence. We use the Herbes de Provence from Dean and Deluca, although it would be simple enough to make your own. The herbs included in their mixture are savory, fennel, thyme, rosemary and lavender, with the fennel playing a leading role.

Because I use a tart dish to bake in, this is probably more accurately called a savory tart. I suppose it doesn’t really matter what you call it when it tastes delicious. I prefer the shallower dish for presentation and ease of serving.

I used the Joy of Cooking recipe for the ratio of eggs and cream. The Joy of Cooking also recommends that you add a tablespoon of flour to the grated cheese before adding it to the quiche. The flour helps keep the cheese from lumping together while the quiche bakes. The flour also helps give the quiche structure.

1 cup grated gruyere cheese (emmenthaler, or other swiss cheese will work too)

1 Tbsp flour

1 Tbsp butter, plus about 1 tsp for buttering the dish

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 freshly ground pepper

1-2 Tbsp Herbes de Provence

1. Preheat oven to 400F and butter a pie pan or tart.

2. Melt butter over medium to medium high heat in saute pan. Saute leeks until softened and slightly browned. While leeks are sauteing, beat together eggs, cream, salt, and pepper. Set aside. Toss flour with cheese until cheese is well coated.

3. Assemble & bake. Pour egg cream mixture into tart dish. Add ingredients one at a time, starting with squash, followed by leeks, cheese, and finally prosciutto. (I like ending with the prosciutto because it looks good when its done). Sprinkle each ingredient evenly in the tart. Finally grind some pepper over the top, and sprinkle Herbes de Provence last. Bake in the upper third of the oven for about 30 minutes, until the top is golden and it passes the toothpick test. Let sit for 5-10 minutes out of the oven before serving.

Dena – Thank you for stopping by and welcome to Eugene. Its great to know another Eugene food blogger. I checked out your blog and enjoyed reading it. Like the mixture of food and food politics. Stay in touch!